Raw and Radiant

With all these Instagram accounts popping up of vegans flaunting their impressive ‘foodporn’ pics (that would convert any cattle farmer to lead a meat-free existence), we just had to get in on the action. There was only one question we needed answered: Does it really taste as good as it looks?

So we teamed up with two very inspirational local vegan enthusiasts, Amy (@africanrawr) and Francesca (@francescaeatsroses) with Instagram accounts that would make your eyes drool. They were up for the challenge and agreed to prepare their favourite vegan dish as well as share their top brekkie, lunch and dinner recipes that would get our tummy’s rumbling. We are both big meat-eaters and couldn’t think of anything more time consuming than preparing a vegan dish, but we were sorely mistaken! After our little MasterChef experience we’ve been nice-creaming and Vietnamese rolling ever since. Thank you ladies for sharing these amazing recipes with us – it was an honour to fine dine with you!

So you might still be wondering whether it tasted as good as it looked? Answer: Kale-Yeah!

Here are two (very delicious) recipes to get you started and to ensure you stay inspired, we will be sharing four more vegan recipes from Amy and Francesca in the weeks to come.

A NICE CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE:Made by Francesca

“Eating a whole-food, plant-based diet means you can have your (vegan) cake and eat it too, any time of the day. I love eating blended, frozen bananas (a.k.a nana nice cream) for breakfast. It’s filling, sweet and creamy – It’s basically dessert for breakfast!”

Peel the ripe bananas, cut them into medium-sized chunks, and place them in the freezer, ideally overnight. Once frozen, blend all ingredients together in a food processor or high-speed blender until smooth. You will have to stop every so often to scrape the yumminess from the sides so that everything is well-blended.

Place your nice cream in the freezer while you make the cupcake (you don’t want it to melt).

For the cupcake:

If the dates are dry, soak them for a few minutes in hot water, otherwise go ahead and blend everything together, not forgetting to scrape down the sides. Mould all the ingredients into a cupcake shape and top with the nice cream. You will have some leftover nice cream on the side, but who’s complaining?

Start by making your rolls. Make sure you have a decent space to work on. Dip your rice sheet into boiling water until it softens and is easy to work with. Lay it flat on a wooden board and add slices of chopped mango, grated carrot and lettuce to the middle of the rice sheet in an even line. Leave space on either end so you can roll it together neatly. Start rolling and tucking your ingredients together as you go. Once you’ve created a neat roll, cut it in half and place on a serving plate.

For the Sauce:

Blend all your ingredients together, adding small amounts of water as you go. Blend until smooth – Enjoy!